"The
passengers I mentioned are no longer at the carc. They are gone but I see
no evidence of the carc being molested or the mount being vandalized." "Shall
I call security?" Gallett asked. "No,
I think not." "With
a thorough check we might find traces of someone other than yourself. I
could have them here in minutes." "No.
Not yet." "Why
couldn't your passengers have departed on their own?" Vettra asked. "Did
you have them confined?" She sounded irritated. She leaped, always, to
assure the right of freedom. She could not abide the alternative. She felt
each instance personally and with cause; her determined, adamant nature
did not forgive easily. "They
are not what you think." "And
what do I think?" I ignored
the asperity. "I was told they were from Septa. I have never been there.
But I was told by an aquaintance that they had been abducted cycles ago
and were with difficulty making their way home. The difficulty was occasioned,
I discovered, by the fact that they could not work for their passage or
provide any services and they could not pay." "So
you were talked into taking them gratis." Gallett smiled.